Tuesday, May 24, 2011

We watched SLACKER(which is currently on Instant and highly recommended) this past weekend for our weekly movie night. An oddly serendipitous choice with the very recent announcement that Linklater's new film BERNIEwill open this year's L.A. Film Festival. SLACKER is such a great little film though. Love it. Was then inspired to dig out my Linklater DVDs and watch trailers for BEFORE SUNRISE, TAPE and WAKING LIFE. Got me thinking about his other films. SUBURBIA is a film I remember liking but not loving but to be fair it's been a while. I went looking for the DVD and was shocked to find there isn't one(even though a special edition may supposedly have been in the works several years ago). Not even Warner Archive has put it out. Thankfully, it's viewable through instant though(as are TAPE and a few other Linklater films). Very happy to see that. I find that TAPE tends to get lost in the shuffle of Linklater's filmography.Friedkin fans rejoice as his under-rated heist comedy THE BRINK'S JOB is now there for you to enjoy. Makes a nice double with BANK SHOT. In a similar vein(but better), If you've never heard of the Richard Dreyfuss detective flick THE BIG FIX, it is well worth your time(and almost never mentioned). I find it to be a great companion piece to THE LONG GOODBYE, and it's never been on DVD. As for other comedies, I've always been a fan of CAVEMAN. Lasty, I'm told that STANDING OVATION is a WTF movie of the highest order. It seems destined for cult classic status and comes to us from the director of MAC AND ME, ICE PIRATES, & MANNEQUIN 2: ON THE MOVE.

13 comments:

Yes! THE BIG FIX! What a delight that film is. Read the book last year and honestly, the movie is way more fun. Wish Dreyfuss could have kept playing that character. THE YEAR MY VOICE BROKE is cool; prequel to FLIRTING. A young Noah Taylor would've been the perfect Adrian Mole.

Around here we refer to "When Nature Calls" by its original release title (which I saw it under at a grindhouse in SF): "The Outdoorsters." A nutty stupid title for a nutty stupid film from the director of "Mother's Day."

I couldn't agree more with you regarding Tape, it really does get lost within Linklater's more higher profile stuff, but I do feel it to be one of his most potent films, a perfectly tense and claustrophobic chamber drama with searing acting (Uma's best performance, imo) and a great script that remains completely unpredictable throughout. Also one of the first features to be shot entirely in digital, strangely enough.

THE BIG FIX is next on my list, Rupe. At some point when I was growing up I recall talking with a girl in my class who was good friends with BIG FIX auteur Jeremy Paul Kagan's daughter. I think they were in drama camp together. Incidentally, Kagan's HEROES, also from Universal, is on Netflix Instant as well. The Netflix version restores Kansas' "Carry On My Wayward Son" to the end credits. That song was replaced on home video versions of HEROES.

Drew-Very cool that you are a TAPE fan as well! It is certainly arguably Uma best I have to agree. Just really compelling stuff.

Ned-Am very curious about your thoughts on THE BIG FIX. I planned to put it on for just a minute last night and got totally sucked in. Never been a fan of THE GOODBYE GIRL in all honesty. Don't really care too much for either lead performance. But Dreyfuss in this film just nails it. I've seen HEROES and was not very impressed unfortunately. Had high hopes based on the cast. Kagan also did THE STING II(also on instant) which I am keen to revisit very soon.

Have you watched Standing Ovation yet? Wow. Even my three-year-old was kind of saying WTF. There's almost too much to describe. One of the most entertaining, weirdest movies I've ever seen. That electric eel scene took it to another plane.

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